By John Eckhardt, Charisma House, softcover, 240 pages, $14.99.
John Eckhardt, the overseer of Chicago-based Crusaders Ministries, sees a church lacking fire and power, which he attributes to a lack of prophetic gifts operating in many congregations. Aiming this book at church leaders, Eckhardt spends much of his time building a strong case for prophecy, the spiritual gift Paul said to desire more than tongues.
Readers primarily interested in instruction can focus on chapters 11-13, where the author addresses using the laying on of hands to impart this gift, equipping people to fulfill God’s call on their lives and setting up a prophetic presbytery—a group of elders who seek to reveal ministries and activate spiritual gifts in a church. Two appendixes are also valuable.
One reviews prophetic exercises that can develop believers and the other is a list of protocols. One element that would have made the book stronger: suggestions on how to avoid the extremes that have given prophecy a bad name over the years.
